


A Smoke Break Is All We Need To Escape Reality Baby

by OasisLake76



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: I'll Update As I Go, So Be Warned About That, and theres no fucking stories with Ash and Drayden and i'm here to change that, hhhhhh so yeah, i really just want ash to smoke since theres literally no fics with hi in it while doing so, there is going to be mentions of what Ash goes through
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2020-10-05 09:49:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20486921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OasisLake76/pseuds/OasisLake76
Summary: Ash doesn't smoke a lot, he probably goes through three packets of cigarettes through a whole journey. It's not like it'll actually kill him since he revives so often, and he doesn't do it around people if he can it's more of a way to take himself out of the reality of his life and just exist normally for an hour at most because who wouldn't want that if they went through the same thing he does.





	1. Beast of the Sea's Lullaby

Drayden grunted as he dropped his overnight bag onto the bed, even if he was in the hotels finest suite he still felt claustrophobic at the moment. Clay and Elesa were staying in the other two rooms as he got the masters, the two were already fallen asleep once their faces hit the mattress, so Drayden took this time to step out of the room and down the hallway. 

One main reason why Drayden always picked the Sunset Hotel in Drysky city was because they had an amazing area for smokers in the side of the hotel, the area was covered during the rainy seasons with metal sheeting and the man found the rain hitting the sheets almost angelically musical to his ears. The smoking area was opened twenty four seven, which was good because Drayden didn’t like smoking during the day as the cool Unova nights were much preferred than during the hot day were passerby’s and journalist could catch him trying to have a little ‘he’ time. The area had benches and was cornered off with a four feet high cement boundary, the only entrance to it was in the hotel lobby and only the people's staying could use it. 

He sighed as a hand raised and started to scratch his beard, he really needed to trim it - maybe tomorrow before the meetings with the Drysky Gym leader if Elesa didn’t hog the bathroom up like last year. The man was pulled out of his thoughts as the elevator dinged and the door open, stepping out into the dimly lit lobby he nodded to the receptionist who greeted them earlier with a lot of paparazzi behind the three Gym leaders. Really it shouldn’t even fucking be the top Gym leaders looking over the rest of Unovas Gyms, that was up to the Champion and Elite four - but whoop dee _fucking_ _do_, everyone of them is either sick from the rain or had a family emergency or Alder just wanted to get into Cynthia’s pants again and was currently in Sinnoh probably failing epically doing so. 

He patted his pockets for his key card and pulled it out of his left pants pocket, holding it up for the scanner and then pushing through the now unlocked glass door. Making his way down the last hallway, Drayden was almost on autopilot. That is until he got to the last glass door that opened to the outside, the glass was kinda blurry on purpose but he could still see a small discolored blur of a person in the area followed by the rain hitting and… was that  _ music _ ? Huh, from what the man could hear behind the door it wasn’t a song he hadn’t listened too before. He slowly opened the last door and closed it softly behind him, looked back up he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. 

It was one of Iris traveling partners,  _ Ash _ if his mind recalled correctly since he had known Cilan since he was a small baby and watched the green haired boy turned into a fine gym leader for his age. But what was Ash doing out here? The kid couldn’t be older than fifteen -  _ sixteen _ at most if he really pushed it - and Unova's smoking age was eighteen the same as their drinking age. Drayden was still transfixed on the way the raven haired kid took a drag on his cigarette and puffed it out lazily, like he could care less about the world and his surroundings. The kid was sitting on the border with his back against a pillar, the blood red sweater stood out against the gray on gray landscape of the raining and foggy clouds hanging low in the sky.

Shaking his head to bring some kind of resemblance of energy in him and he looked down between the kids shoes to see a tiny music box with what looks like a wooden figurine of Orange Islands legendary Lugia turning in a circle in the middle of the box on a pedestal that has blue paint chipping off of it, the other three legendary birds painted on each side while leaving the front of the box blank. The music box itself looked very weathered down, the paint was chipping off and it looked like it had a lot of dents on the side and from the bronze coloring of the little legs and the pieces of metal on the corner it was  _ very _ well loved and used well. Tied together with Ash and the smoke the view looked like it was an oil painting that should be hung up in a museum of a high caliber, or sitting as the centerpiece of a rich man's main home. 

“Are you going to stare at me for the rest of the night? Or are you going to join me for a smoke?” 

Drayden reared back, his mind crashing back down from earth and his logical side of his brain pointed out this was a  _ minor  _ smoking. “Kid, It’s illegal to-“ the older man started only to have something flat and white thrown at him from the kids sweater pocket. 

“Check your facts before you accuse someone of something old man.” Ash said before taking a long drag from his cigarette and letting the cloud of smoke just drift from his mouth for a few seconds before blowing out the rest. 

“ _ Son- _ “ 

“ _ I’m not your son _ .” 

“You should watch what you say to your elders,” Drayden growled before placing the license down by Ash’s left foot. The kid was actually nineteen, newly turned and he was under the Kanto age law so it didn’t matter if Drayden wanted to stop him or not, the kid had been an adult since ten. 

Ash snorted before chuckling slightly, “why should I? You eat and shit just about the same as I do, and mental illness doesn’t give a  _ shit _ what fancy job you hold,” the young adult shifted to his left and smushed the burning edge of the cigarette into the ashtray right besides him. “It doesn’t matter, your human like most of us and we’re all going to die at the end of our life anyway, we should get to choose how the way we go.” 

Drayden frowned, the kid actually made frightening sense but his hackles rose nonetheless from the lack of respect not given on sight. Pulling his own pack of cigarettes - a different brand from what Ash was smoking - he pulled one out and pat his right pants pocket for his lighter but he couldn’t find it. 

“Here.” Ash mumbled and tossed Drayden his own lighter, the thing was littler than a normal lighter and the matted black was a different kind than he’d seen here in Unova. With the size differences his big fingers could catch the revolver part. Ash sighed and leaned over to pluck the lighter out of Draydens meaty fingers and easily flicked it so a small flame came out the top. 

Leaning over with his cigarette already in his mouth he mumbled his thanks as he backed up, pulling in and then taking the cigarette between two fingers of his opposite hand so he could blow a good size smoke cloud. Ash pulled another one of his own cigarettes out of his box and lit it, leaning back to his original position before and the two sat in silence. The music stopped for a second and restarted again, the soft angelic notes swirled together in a beautiful way with the sound of the rain hitting the objects around the two. The silence was okay -  _ great _ even - for a little bit, it helped calm down Draydens but then the silence stretched for too long for it to be comfortable anymore. “So I… I heard what happened with Mewtwo and Genesect.” 

The shorter adult snorted loudly before his face turned into a heavy frown, he didn’t answer Drayden’s conversation starter as he kept gazing out into the fog and rain, but the Gym leader will not be deterred from the lack of words on the shorters part.

“I also heard about victini-” 

“ ** _Don’t_ ** **.** ” 

Drayden was taken aback by the venom Ash had shot at him, “Excuse you-”

Ash snarled and and squished his half used cigarette into the ashtray and hopped off the border to look up at Drayden who was looking at the young adult with shocked wide eyes, the two didn’t notice the angelic music turning into a darker song. “Yes  _ excuse me _ for not wanting to talk about an event that I  _ died _ in, how absolutely  _ shameful  _ of me not wanting to get a panic attack from memories,” Ash took a step forward and for some reason Drayden couldn’t get his feet to move backwards, “I’m sorry that I'm out here taking a drag after having a PTSD flashback of when I died in  _ space _ after I almost broke a promise to a mythical Pokemon, I’m sorry that I’m not falling to my knees to worship the ground you walk on because almost every Gym leader has bought into their followers never ending praises, I’m sorry that I can’t stop myself from being killed by accident or murdered by someone else and not have it stick.” Tears were flowing down Ash’s cheeks and Drayden now just noticed the purple bags under the young adults' eyes and the bright icy blue color swirling with amber and bright red. 

Drayden stood there speechless as Ash glared up at him while sobbing, they must have stood there for a while before Ash bodily flinched back hard, one hand came up to clutch at the sweater where his heart would be as the other pulled at the sleeve so he could try and wipe his eyes. Neither mentioned the music box and how it now looked more withered and abused with the music coming in and out of different tunes and volumes, making the once beautiful song horrifying. 

Ash grabbed the pack of his cigarettes as they were still lying there on the border where he dropped them and turned back to the gym leader, his eyes mostly blue now instead of amber, “I’m sorry that I ruined your smoking time Gym leader Drayden, have a good rest of your morning.” Ash ducked his head as he passed the older man to the door and made it halfway there when Drayden finally got his words back.

“What about the music box?” the Gym leader called out and Ash looked over his shoulder in cold confusion.

“There isn’t a music box, and I don’t own one.” 

  
The Gym leader looked over to where the music box was sitting and it was actually fucking gone, he then turned back because he didn’t hear the door open or close and low and behold Ash was gone. Drayden honestly felt that he ruined something  _ really _ important and it’s going to bite him in the ass later on down the line. 


	2. Wulfric

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell that I don’t like Serena?

“Have a good night Leader Wulfric!” A volunteer greeted him as he walked past her at the front desk, Copying her goodbye back he finally left her to close down the gym with a few others. 

Wulfric let out a bone tired sigh,  _ finally done for the day _ , he usually doesn’t get a lot of trainers but today really punched his limits for reasons. The image of a raven haired boy and a weird Greninja crossed his mind, Wulfric should actually searched Ash out and ask him what in Arceus made his Greninja do that in the first place. 

“Can you fucking _ stop _ !?” 

Wulfric pauses as an angry voice came near the Pokémon Center he was passing, it sounded like just the person he wanted to search out. The Gym leader was soon faced with Ash and one of his companions, Serena if he was right. 

“I’m just looking out for you!” Serena yelled, a Pancham was off to the side with a Braixen. “Smoking is bad and harmful! You shouldn’t be doing it in the first place!” She exclaimed and stepped forward before taking another step back as Ash himself let out a low inhuman guttural sound from deep in his throat. 

Wulfric watched with bated breath, on hand moving to grasp a Pokéball on his belt if this fight turned physically since Ash doesn’t seem to have his own Pokémon with him at the moment. 

The raven haired trainer started to laugh a little hysterically as one of his hands scooped up a small box that held what looked like a pack of Kalos Cigarettes. He faced Serena again with his teeth bared like an angry Hounddoom, “I  _ know _ that!” He snarled. 

“Then stop it!” Serena shrieked loudly and Wulfric actually flinched from the volume of noise. 

“You’re not the boss of me!” Ash yelled back, out yelling Serena by a mile, “And again,  _ you’d you fucking stop cutting my cigarettes in half!?  _ It’s annoying and I’m really close to actually punching you in the face next time!” 

Serena looked so appalled, “I’m trying to  _ save _ you!” She yelled right back, her Braixen picked up Panchum and walked back into the center. 

Ash laughed angrily and flung his hand up to point to the retreated Pokémon “ _ Look at that! _ ” He stated as he shook his hand at the wooden door, “Even your Pokémon are done with your bullshit!” 

“Their just cold!” Serena insisted but Ash just rolled his eyes and started to walk further away from the Pokémon Center. “Where are you going?” Serena whined and started to walk towards Ash’s retreating frame. 

The young man swirled around, the same guttural sound from earlier ripping out of his throat as he glared down at Serena. “ _ Away from you! _ ” 

Wulfric could feel the tension rising into a dangerous level and one of them was going to make a mistake they were going to regret. Until Serena let out a sob and jerked back and ran inside of the Pokémon Center. The Ice type leader wasn’t expecting that so suddenly but he did assume that Serena was on the more emotional side of the feeling spectrum. 

Ash stood in the snow, his eyes slowly glazing over as his breathing evened out. After a few minutes his hand went to the pocket that he stored the cigarettes in, he absentmindedly searches through the pack before taking one out and chucking the rest of the pack over to the garbage can was by the door and the pack actually landed through the slot with deadly accuracy as his other hand patted his left back pocket and pulled out a small matte black lighter. He didn’t speak again until he took a drag, “You can come out now.” 

Wulfric was surprised he was found out, but he really should have been  _ that _ surprised since he technically was out in the snowy open. “Only if you have room for a smoking pal,” He called back easily, making his over to Ash, “so what’s all that about if you don’t mind explaining?” 

Ash griminced, scrunching up his nose before looking back up to Wulfric “Serena has a crush on me.” 

Snorting, Wulfric pulled out his own pack and lighter. “Thats a given, she had stars in her eyes during your battle.” 

“I’m already in a relationship.” 

Wulfric paused, the cigarette unlit between his fingers. “...oh.” 

“With a  _ guy _ .” 

“ _ Oh. _ ” Wulfric breathes out, his throat felt kinda dry as he took his first drag. “That uh… yeah.” The older man made a weird face and Ash chuckled as he dropped the butt of the cigarette into the packed snow and squashed it but he picked it up again. 

“Have a good night Leader Wulfric.” Ash states and patted the bigger man's arm before walking to the wooden door, dropping the wet cigarette butt into the ashtray on top. The door made a creaking noise as it was opened and closed. 

“ _ Night _ .” Wulfric breathed out when Ash was closing the door, the raven haired adult flashed an extremely tried smile before closing the door all the way. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come talk to me on tumblr! alolarain is where I’m at!


	3. Hoenn Legendaries Are Fucking Assholes

“Have room for one more?” 

Ash’s head shot up, a shaking breath slipped between his lips as he stared up at the person standing a little ways away, Steven Stone leisurely sauntered over to Ash. His normal suit coat gone to expose a dirty soaking wet white - or  _ used _ to be white - undershirt. Along with his suit pants the shirt was shredded in multiple places. The older adult raised one of his eyebrows in question as Ash quickly nodded his head in agreement. The tremors in the kids hands didn’t stop its persistence as the silver haired man sat down and opened a fresh pack of cigarettes and pulled out a lighter that looked brand new. 

Steven lit a cigarette as the kid next to him shook like a frail leaf in a heavy storm, he side eyed Ash as the poor kids chest rises and lowered rapidly but the trainers breath was silent. Ash looked absolutely terrified and Steven wished he could really help the kid, but sometimes people need to face their demons alone or that’s what his mama told him, but his mama also locked Steven in the hallway closet for a couple hours on end. 

Ash’s clothes were the most damaged that Steven had seen from anyone else, but that could be because the little fucker had actually rode fucking Rayquaza into battle against two other fucking powered up legendaries and the kid didn’t even change when he dropped his Pokémon off at the Pokémon Center he was staying at before the Event. The kids jacket was more rags hanging off his slim frame than anything along with his shirt. 

“Hey… Steven?” Ash spoke up, still shaking as he looked up to the adult sitting next to him. 

The older trainer hummed as he blew smoke out of his mouth, eyes tracking the smoke as it slowly drifted up towards the still gray sky. 

“Everything’s okay now…” Ash pauses as his eyes darted down to the city before he dragged them back to Steven again, looking absolutely lost as fuck, “Right?” 

That caught the silver trainer from taking another drag. The kids voice was practically pleading for Steven to say yes, to magically make the situation better and make the bad things go away forever. Steven took a real good look at Ash this time around from the first time he had met the kid, and then it really hit him - like,  _ really  _ hit Steven, Ash was a  _ kid _ \-  ** _a Arceus forsaken child_ ** . 

Ash had launched himself into battle, just to save his Pikachu from the grips of the Red Orb and Groudon. He did that without thinking and actually fucking  _ died _ while doing so, that’s something Steven couldn’t do and he’s the fucking Hoenn Champion -  _ that’s his job _ , he’s the one to force himself into the situation to save Hoenn from danger. But a child did it without hesitation, and now Ash is finally facing the realization and fear of what he did not even three hours ago. 

Steven cursed before jamming the cigarette into the turned up ground to put it out before jerking both his arms out and dragging Ash practically into his lap to hold him close. “_Oh_ _Ash_.” He breathed with so much sadness into the kid’s wet hair and that must have been the last hit to crash down Ash’s barriers because Steven soon had the kid balling rivers into his already soggy under shirt, clutching so tightly that he was actually ripping the shirt apart a little. The Champion clung just as tight to Ash and carded his slim fingers through the tangled raven locks on the back of the kids head. 

Fucking forget what his piece of shit mother tried to ingrain into him, a child should never have to go through what Ash had just done out of fear. So Steven will stay here, on the wet turned dirt with Ash in his arms for as long as the kid wants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come talk to me on Tumblr


	4. Clemont

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every League Official fears Delia down to their bone marrow, no matter what.

Clemont felt his ribs contracting, or is it because his ribs are cracked? He doesn’t know anymore, Clemont just knows that  _ they won. _

The bubble that took Squishy and his friend away was long gone, but he hasn’t bothered moving from his spot. Opting to watch the giant dust cloud slowly drift down as everyone around cheered in their own way; the blonde gym leader could here Diantha’s voice praising everyone and it felt like silk was winding its way around Clemont’s soul as the Kalos Champion wove her way through the group with to much grace for a woman who was just in a ‘end all world’ battle against one of her oldest friends; the shouting of Viola and Grant was heard the most as they screamed poetry and wordless sounds of victory while jumping up and down while racing around the outer edges of the gathering group and showing off backflips and hindsprints, over all just oozing with energy that Clemont couldn’t help wonder how they managed to keep; Korrina soon joined in and he could hear her start laughing loudly as she must have picked up Bonnie from the little girl’s excited screeches of her own laughter and circle the clearing while overlapping Viola and Grant; the voices of Ramos and Wulfric weren’t to far behind Clemont as the two oldest gym leaders of Kalos opted to not immediately join the main group, their concerns and worries were soon washed away when Olympia stepped in and calmed the old men’s fear enough to be able to switch the topic to what would happen to Alain and Diantha since the two didn’t have their battle. 

The electric gym leader chose to ignore everyone else for the time being. The feeling of freedom sore through every aching muscle and he felt like he was ready to collapse, as the taste of life made his tongue heavy and his nerves alight with utter joy and overwhelmed. Or it could be the extreme exhaustion from pushing himself father than he has ever gone physically and menatlly with his tongue caked in dry dirt and dehydration while his nerves were overstimulated. A breeze flew in, ruffling hair and clothes as it picked up the remaining dust clouds and pulled the particles away from the group and further into the caverns. 

Clemont finally pulled his eyes away from the horizon and towards the group, and true to his words almost everyone was jumping around and or leaning against someone as exhaustion crashed down. But something caught his eyes on the way over, there was someone standing a little farther away from everyone else. He slowly picked his way over the rocky torraine, he  _ swore _ it was completely flat before they all launched themselves at Lysandre like some suicidal idiots and to be fair they were following Alain and Ash’s lead more than Diantha’s instructions, he tried to be careful of his legs but they did buckle out from under him for a second at several occasions but he made enough ground to look through his cracked lenses to see who had gone so far from the group. 

Small wisps of gray smoke curled slightly around the figure but Clemont could spot the famous dark blue jacket anywhere, with or without his glasses. “Have room for one more?” He asked, silently cursing his voice cracking several times. 

Ash chuckled, smoke trailing out of his mouth and curled into itself as it rose into the darkening sky. If the young adult looked harder at the blackening edge away from the setting sun, he could see stars starting to shine. “Only if you’re okay with the smoke,” Ash responded. Tilting his head to watch as Clemont limped his way over to the blunted edge of the boulder that was stuck over a small hillside, “need a hand?” 

Clemont wheezed as he slowly shifted his way up onto the low boulder, muscles already strained from the fight didn’t help him and Ash had to reach backwards and grab onto the blondes tattered jumpsuit to pull Clemont up the rest of the way next to the raven haired adult. “I could have gotten up here myself,” he started until Ash interrupted him with a snort before taking a drag from the cigarette.

“You have a limp that makes you walk like a baby Deerling, I’m surprised that you were able to even walk over here.” Ash snarked, his words edged with a vile tone that rarely shows in the taller boy’s voice. 

Clemont chose to ignore looking Ash straight in the eyes, the last time he did that was before the final battle with everyone on the ground. Clemont had to pull himself out of his fear for what seems like the tenth time that day after he and Ash made eye contact before the other dodged to join Alain and Diantha in the front of the battalion. The blonde will never forget his friends whiskey brown eyes glowing an  _ extremely  _ unnatural red. Thankfully it was too bright of a red to be associated to team flare, though Clemont will highly end up associating all red colors to the now defeated team; Ash’s eyes were still glowing red, but not as bright luminescent and color wise. 

“The Gods were here,” the statement came out of the blue, Ash’s unnatural eyes trained onto a cliff side not to far from the battlefield. Calculating and cold as he searched the edge with a sharp frown. 

Clemont was shocked by the others words that it took him a minute to gather his frayed thoughts, “come again?” 

Ash squashed the cigarette onto the rock before tossing it down the cliff side, obviously not turning to look at Clemont as he reached for the dented and withered box not to far off. “The Gods,” Ash mumbled again, his fingers nervously picking at the peeling shiny plastic on the box, “you know, Yveltal,” the older boy nodded towards the cliff further out, “that spot on the edge. Over there,” his finger pointed a little towards the left where there was a quarter chunk taken out of the ground as rocks were still tumbling down, “looks like Yveltal’s tail made that. And look how it’s gray stone instead of red rocks and dirt.” 

It took a few minutes for everything to connect together in Clemons’s brain, that patch of land where Ash had pointed out  _ wasn’t  _ that kind of rock before the battle, anger soon started to curl in his gut and stretched out to twirl around his ribs. 

In the meantime, Ash had pulled out another slightly bent cigarette and stayed quiet as he could hear the cogs in his friends head turn with the evidence. It wasn’t long until Clemont jolted forward with with a shout of words before hacking into his fist, using the outburst Ash continued, “I fully believe Yveltal was here on duty; not for our protection, but to claim a  _ Sacrifice _ .” 

The blonde reeled at Ash’s theory and he had to grab onto Ash’s outstretched hand so he wouldn’t fall and break more important bones in his body. “What do you mean  _ sacrifice _ ,” Clemont snarled as his voice cracked, how could Yveltal not protect its citizens of Kalos? Is that not important to the Legendary? 

“Yveltal is the Kalosian God of death; if it wants a sacrifice, it will  _ get  _ a sacrifice. There’s nothing besides Arceus to stop it, and even then that bastard loves misery as much as the other,” Ash snarked, his face scrunched as Arceus name passed his lips. The God of creation and Ash never really got over the time Ash saved it and Arches leaving without as much as thank you in the end. 

Clemont opened his mouth to start yelling, he didn’t know what but it would be about something, until Professor Sycamore's voice called out to them. 

“ _ Ashton Ketchum _ you better not be smoking with broken ribs and a punctured lung!” Sycamore yelled angrily as the man Sped towards them. In retaliation Ash quickly squashed his cigarette and tossed it off the edge while slipping the crumbled box into a hidden pocket inside his almost completely shredded jacket. 

“ _ Young man _ ,” the Professor said as he finally descended on the two young adults with a glare worse than a Garchomps bite, “Alain told me you’ve been stabbed  _ multiple  _ times by those smaller vines alongside blunt damaged of those moving crystals. And don’t you dare take me as a fucking  _ court jester _ to think that I didn’t see smoke rising where you’re sitting not a moment ago,” during Sycamores rushed speech Diantha had walked up with Alain following behind and the Champion had her own deep scowl. 

“You’re completely covered in bruises and cuts. And you’ve been  _ stabbed  _ that has to be still bleeding! You just can’t go willy-nilly with stab wounds that are-“ Professor Sycamore stopped when Ash lifted up his jacket and undershirt to show a crusted over wound that stretched from his bottom right rib down to his belly button, “-you’re directly going to Nurse Joy and you  _ will _ be healed or so help me your mother will destroy Kalos more than that Furry had already done.” 

Ash started to complain as Sycamore grabbed onto his arm to pull him towards Alain who had his Charzard out and gotten onto the back during the speech. “Alain, don’t listen to him! I’m completely fine!” Ash yelled at the older trainer. 

Alain snorted as he helped the Professor pushing Ash onto the Charzard. “And help you help me get my own ass chewed out?” the older boy got Ash secured and the shorter tried to wiggle his way out before gasping in pain,”I think the absolute fuck not, both of us need to go. And what about your other friends? Don’t you want to check up on them and see how their doing with everything that happened at the capital?” 

Ash practically hissed like a Persian at the other as he tried to twist once more from the strong grip holding him to Alains chest. “Fuck you, and fuck your emotional manipulation to make me see Nurse Joy.” 

Alain rolled his eyes as he patted the side of Charzard to signal his Pokémon that the two humans were ready. “Fuck me yourself coward.” 

Clemont didn’t get to hear Ash’s response over Alain’s Charizards roar, but from the look of anger and Ash’s twisted mouth it must have been something absolutely scalding. He watched as the two got smaller in the distance before Professor Sycamore rounded on him for the blondes own ass chewing. 

He sat there as Sycamore  _ and  _ Diantha raved on him since he didn’t go with the main group to the capital to get himself healed and soon he found himself on the back of the Professor’s own Charizard while Diantha flew next to him on her Altaria. 

At least they won in the end, and maybe he won’t have to deal with Sycamore and Diantha hounding his ass next time too. 


	5. nightmares are horrid beasts

Lance should have known this would happen again. This has been a recurring past time for the last few weeks now. He pulled his covers off, disgusted with himself a little from how much sweat he produced in the last two and a half hour’s alone. 

Nightmares are a bunch of big bitches. 

Ash’s screams of pains and anger echoed while the flashes of Blue, Green, and Red flashed in front of his eyes as Lance stumbles into the bathroom. Hissing when the lights blinded him for a full minute. Getting clean was easy, a quick hop into a cold shower and he was out, not even fifteen minutes wasted. 

Lance stood in the bathroom doorway, hair dripping down onto the towel hung around his neck, eyeing his bed and the messy covers like they personally did something to offend him to the highest degree. he could attempt and go back to sleep, though it would end even more messy and Lance would definitely wake up in a full blown panic attack. Which would then set his Pokémon out of their Poké balls in panic and some would zoom out of the room to alert everyone else. No, going back to sleep wasn’t a choice at all, too risqué. Lance hasn’t avoided this long without the rest of Elite Four and Ash strong arming him into therapy just for nothing. 

He eyed his balcony door, it was the middle of March so it wasn’t necessarily that cold. Making his decision the next second, Lance Scooped up his bed blanket and shuffled up to the door and slipped out. Walking over to the swinging bench he and Ash built last summer because the metal and cushion chairs Lance had weren’t comfy enough to Lorelei’s standards. 

Laying the blanket down and ignoring how it’s going to get damp anyways from the slightly wet ground, Lance flopped down and just tried to enjoy the rocking for a little. The stars were out tonight, like they are every night but this time there weren’t any clouds blocking Lances view. 

The slight rocking movement only soothes Lances mind for a few minutes until he was assaulted by an image of Ash falling off of Rayquaza’s back and plummeting towards the rocky shore. He barely retained the shriek that wanted to rip its way out of his mouth, the sound of skin hitting against skin echoed a little in the open air as Lance slapped his hands over his mouth. He sat up and bent down between his knees, stopping the bench from rocking, tears started welling in his eyes and Lance blindly reached out near the table that was pushed out in front of him. A simple box was lying on the table, nothing special in design and was something one of his uncles had sent him for Christmas. 

Lance rummaged around and a few seconds later he pulled out a cigarette box and a lighter with a little drawing of a dratini swirling up it. Even with his shaking hands Lance was able to light the cigarette easily and the first drag felt like a steady hand coming down and planting itself on top of his head. 

It took Lance a, quite frankly, embarrassing amount of time to realize the feeling of weight on top of his head wasn’t fantasized but was indeed an actual hand curling in his hair. Lances reaction time was so delayed that he didn’t even flinch from shock, only tilting his head up a little and making the hand drag down. Pushing his damp hair in Lances eyes but not enough to distort Ash’s form off to the side. 

“Good Morning,” Ash croaked out, voice hoarse and cracking in places. 

Lance didn't say anything, just motioning to his side and watching from the side of his eyes as Ash flopped down onto the covers. Soon burying himself under the blanket and pressing himself into Lance’s side. The Kanto Champion moved his arm so Ash could press closer. 

“Nightmares are big bitches,” Ash breathed into the chilled air, watching as his cloudy breath drifts up. Absentmindedly taking a cigarette from the box Lance offered him. 

The older Champion snorted, reminded what he thought before coming out to the balcony, “agreed.” he mumbled before taking another puff. Ignoring how Ash’s fingers felt like slim icicles from when they brushed against his own when grabbing for the lighter. Ash felt like a giant block of ice to Lance’s own burning body and it made the Kanto Champion shiver just in the slightest of ways, not like Ash would notice. One look at the younger adult and his glazed over brown eyes told Lance everything he needed to know at that moment of time. 

They both took a drag and Lance had to stave off a chuckle as the cloud of smoke twirled together before disappearing. 

Lance felt Ash shift and press his face into his collarbone, tears soon started to fall from Ash’s face and the young adult hiccuped and pressed harder. Sighing, the older man reached for Ash’s cigarette and smushed out both his and Ash’s in the nearby ashtray, he pulled Ash closer and thread one of his hand into the other Champions and brought it to his chest. 

“I’m here,” Lance mumbled into Ash’s hair and pulled the younger Champion closer, “I’m here and I’m not leaving.” 

“God-” Ash’s voice cracked again and Lance shushed him, the older Champion rubbing his cheek into Ash’s bed head, “you were lying on the ground.” Ash mumbled through his tears.

Lance didn’t want to play therapist tonight, he has his own damn fucking problems to deal with, but to see Ash crying because of a nightmare he had of Lance? Now that pulled on his heart strings a little too hard for him to ignore it. “Yeah?” he asked, moving his chin to place it on top of Ash’s head. 

“Your stomach was r-ripped open and… and  _ he _ was standing above y-your body.” Ash snarled, body shaking with the emotion he was forcing into his words. 

It was clear to Lance who Ash was referring to, Giovanni was locked away in the most maxed out prison Kanto and Johto has and unable to touch him and Ash ever again. 

“I’m here now,” Lance reiterated. 

“I know,” Ash sobbed. 

The stars twinkled above the pair. cold and unyielding with the full moon looking like an eye staring down at them. No one else was around and the two can be broken with each other, just in this little pocket of time with the night to cloak them. Just until the sun rises, forcing the two to put their masks back on and never speak about that night until their last breath. 


End file.
